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Weiter soll die Obrigkeit das Volk

Deinde secundum leges æquas

nach billigen, göttlichen Geseßen re- judicare populum: tueri pacem gieren, Gericht und Recht halten und publicam: rempublicam fovere, handhaben, den allgemeinen Frieden sontes pro delicti ratione mulc und Wohlstand erhalten, den allgemei- tare, opibus, corpore, vita. Quæ nen Nußen schüßen und schirmen, und quum facit debitum Deo cultum die Uebertreter nach Beschaffenheit ihrer præstat.

Missethat an Gut, Leib und Leben, wie

billig strafen. Und wenn sie das thut, dienet sie Gott, ihrem Herrn, wie sie schuldig und verpflichtet ist.

Huic nos (etiam si in Christo liberi sumus) et corpore et facultatibus omnibus nostris, et animi studio [vera] cum fide, sancte subjiciendos esse (quantisper hu

Solcher Obergewalt sollen wir Alle, obwohl wir in Ehristo frei sind, mit Leib, Hab und Gut gehorsam und gewärtig sein, und mit Liebe von Her zen und aus Glauben uns ihr unterthänig beweisen, Treue und Eid thun jus imperia cum eo, propter und leisten, wenn ihr Geheiß und Ge- quem hunc veneramur, palam bot nicht offenbar wider den ist, um non pugnant), scimus.1

deß willen wir ihr Ehre anthun und

gehorsam sind.1

XXVII. [XXVIII.] Von der hei XXVIII. DE SANCTO CONJUGio. ligen Ehe.

Wir halten dafür, daß der eheliche Stand allen Menschen, die dazu tauglich und geschickt und von Gott sonst nicht berufen sind, außerhalb der Ehe teusd) zu leben, von Gott eingesezt und verordnet sei, daß kein Orden oder Stand so heilig und ehrbar sei, daß ihm der eheliche Stand zuwider wäre und verboten werden sollte. Und wie nun solche Ehe vor der Kirche mit einer herrlichen

Conjugium hominibus omnibus aptis et alio non vocatis divinitus institutum, nullius ordinis sanctimonia repugnare censemus. Quod ut ecclesia hortatione solenni precationeque inaugurat et sancit, ita magistratus interest, ut digne et ineatur et colatur,

Rom. xiii.; 1 Cor. ix.; 1 Tim. v. 1 Cor. xvi.; Matt. xxii.; Act. iv.

öffentlichen Ermahnung und einem nec nisi justis ex causis solva

Gelübde bestätigt wird, also soll auch tur.

die Obrigkeit Acht haben und dafür

sorgen, daß die Ehe rechtlich und or rentlich eingegangen und recht und ehrbar gehalten, auch nicht leicht, ohne wichtige und rechtmäßige Ursachen, getrennt und geschieden werde.

Deßhalb können wir die Klöster

Proinde cælibatum istum mo

und die unsaubere und unordentliche nasticum et eorum (quos spiri Keuschheit aller vermeinter Geistlichen tuales vocant) impuram castitaund derselben faules und unnüßes tem, et totum hoc ignavum vitæ Leben, das etliche Leute aus unbegrün- genus, superstitiosorum hominum detem Eifer eingesezt und angeordnet abominabile commentum, procul haben, nicht loben, sondern verwerfen rejicimus, æque et ecclesiæ et reies als ein scheußliches und gräuliches publica repugnans.1

Ding, von Menschen wider Gottes

Ordnung erdichtet und erfunden.1

Ist durch oben gemeldeter Städte Boten bestätigt und einhellig angenom

men.

Basel, 1536, am 26. März.

'Matt. xix.; Heb. xiii.; 1 Cor. vii.; 1 Tim. iii.; Matt. v.; 1 Tim, iv.; 2 Thess. iii. VOL. III.-Q

CATECHISMUS GENEVENSIS, CONSENSUS TIGURINUS,

CONSENSUS GENEVENSIS.

These three documents, drawn up by Calvin, would follow next in chronological order, but do not come within the scope of our selec tion, partly on account of their length (the Latin text alone would fill about two hundred pages-see Niemeyer, pp. 123-310), partly for intrinsic reasons. The CATECHISM OF GENEVA (1541) is no more in use, having been superseded by the Heidelberg and Westminster Catechisms, included in this volume. The CONSENSUS OF ZURICH (1549), and the CONSENSUS OF GENEVA (1552), especially the latter, are not so much confessions of faith as elaborate theological and polemical essays on two doctrines-the one on the Lord's Supper, the other on Predestination-for the purpose of harmonizing and defending the teaching of the Swiss Churches. On both these doctrines the Second Helvetic, the Gallican, the Belgic, the Scotch, and other Reformed Confessions, which we give in full, are sufficiently explicit and more authoritative.

For a history and summary of these documents, see the first volume, pp. 467 sqq.

CONFESSIO HELVETICA POSTERIOR, A.D. 1566.

THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION.

[This Helvetic Confession is called the second or later Helv. Conf., to distinguish it from the Confessio Helvetica Prior (or Basileensis Posterior, 1536). It was written by Henry Bullinger, of Zürich (Zwingli's saccessor), 1562, and first published 1566 in Latin, also in German and French. It is the most elaborate and most catholic among the Swiss Confessions. (Hagenbach calls it a 'wahres dogmatisches Meisterstück.) It was adopted, or at least highly approved, by nearly all the Reformed Churches on the Continent and in England and Scotland. Hence it must have a place in this selection. But it is rather a theological treatise than a popular creed; and on account of its great length I am obliged to omit a translation, referring the reader to the summary given in the first volume. There is an English translation by Owen Jones (The Church of the Living God; also the Swiss and Belgian Confessions of Faith, London, 1865), and another by Prof. Jeremiah Good, D.D. (of Tiffin, Ohio), Phila. 1873.

For the text I have compared the following Latin editions: 1. The edition of Zürich, 1651, as reprinted in the Corpus et Syntagma Confessionum Fidei (Geneva, 1654, pp.1-61). 2. The edition in the Oxford Syllage Confessionum, 2d ed. 1827, pp. 9-115, printed in very superior style, but with some omissions. 3. J. P. Kindler's Confessio Helvetica Posterior, with a preface by Winer, Solisbaci, 1825 (pp. 102); from this edition I have adopted the division of chapters into sections, and the references to the Augsburg Confession. 4. The edition of Niemeyer, in his Collectio Conf. Reform., Leipz. 1840, pp. 462–536, who gives the text of the edition of 1568, with unimportant variations of a Zürich MS., and the editions of Oxford and of Kindler. 5. The German text in Böckel's Bekenntniss-Schriften der evang.-reformirten Kirche, Leipz. 1847, pp. 281-347. The editions of Fritzsche and Böhl were not at hand. Some editions add the Imperial Edict against heretics from the Justinian Code, and the Symbolum of Pope Damasus from the works of Jerome. The title and preface are copied from the Zürich edition, 1651, in the Corpus et Syntagma Confessionum, 1654.]

1

SSIO

CONFESS

E T

EXPOSITIO SIMPLEX
ORTHODOXÆ FIDEI, ET DOGMA-
TVM CATHOLICORVM SYNCERÆ RELI-
gionis Chriftianæ.

Concorditer ab Ecclefiæ Chrifti Miniftris, qui funt in Heluetia, Tiguri,
Berna, Glarona, Bafileæ,1Scaphusij, Abbatiscellæ,'Sangalli,Curiæ Rheto-
& apud Confœderatos, Mylhufij item, & Biennæ : quibus adjunxe-
runt fe Geneuenfis & Neocomenfis Ecclefiæ Miniftri, vnà cum aliis
Euangelij Præconibus in Polonia, Hungaria & Scotia:

rum,

EDITA IN HOC, VT VNIVERSIS TESTEN-
tur fidelibus, quod in vnitate veræ & antiquæ Chrifti Ecclefiæ,
perstent, neque vlla noua, aut erronea dogmata spargant,
atque ideò etiam nihil confortij cum vllis Sectis
aut Hærefibus habeant.

Ad Rom. cap. X. verf. 10.

Corde creditur ad juftitiam, ore autem confefsio fit ad falutem.

TIGVRI

Typis Iон. IACOBI BODMERI.

Anno MDCLI.

Glarus, Basel, and Appenzell are not mentioned in the first editions, as they subscribed at a later period.

PREFATIO.

UNIVERSIS CHRISTI FIDELIBUS PER GERMANIAM ATQUE EXTERAS ETIAM NATIONES.

Ministri Subscriptarum Ecclesiarum per Helvetiam

Gratiam et Pacem a DEO PATRE, per JESUM CHRISTUM, Dominum nostrum, precamur.

Conscriptæ sunt hactenus, et eduntur hoc præcipue tempore in publicum, a regnis, nationibus, et civitatibus, multæ ac variæ Confessiones et Expositiones fidei, quibus extremo hoc seculo, in tam infelici perniciosarum proventu hæresium, quæ passim exoriuntur, docent, atque testantur, se in Ecclesiis suis orthodoxe simpliciterque sentire, credere atque docere, de omnibus in universum et singulis Christianæ fidei et religionis nostræ dogmatibus, denique, se et ab hæresium sectarumve communione esse quam alienissimos. Nos ergo, tametsi antea hoc ipsum fecerimus in nostris scriptis in publicum editis, quia tamen illa in oblivionem forte abierunt, variisque in locis, et prolixius etiam rem exponunt, quam ut omnibus inquirere ac perlegere vacet, præclaro aliorum fidelium exemplo excitati, brevi hac expositione conamur complecti, et omnibus Christi fidelibus proponere doctrinam, œconomiamque Ecclesiarum nostrarum, quam illæ mox ab initio Reformationis, multos jam per annos, multaque per discrimina rerum ad hunc usque diem, summo cum consensu, et docuerunt, et nunc quoque custodiunt. Eadem opera attestamur etiam omnibus consensum nostrum unanimem, quem dedit nobis Dominus, ut in nostris Ecclesiis, quibus nos ministrare voluit Dominus, idem loquamur omnes, nec sint inter nos dissidia, sed simus integrum corpus, eadem mente eademque sententia. Attestamur item, nos minime talia in Ecclesiis nostris spargere dogmata, qualia adversarii nonnulli nostri nobis, apud eos maxime, ad quos scripta nostra non perveniunt, et qui doctrinæ nostræ imperiti sunt, falso et præter meritum tribuere, obtrudereque nituntur. Ergo manifestissime ex his nostris æqui deprehendent lectores, nihil nos quoque habere communionis cum ullis sectis atque hæresibus, quarum, hoc consilio, in singulis prope capitibus, mentionem facimus, easque rejicientes perstringimus. Colligent itaque et illud, nos a sanctis Christi Ecclesiis Germaniæ, Galliæ, Angliæ, aliarumque in orbe Christiano nationum, nephario schismate nos non sejungere atque abrumpere: sed cum ipsis omnibus et singulis, in hac confessa veritate Christiana, probe consentire, ipsasque caritate sincera complecti.

Tametsi vero in diversis Ecclesiis quædam deprehenditur varietas, in loquutionibus, et modo expositionis doctrinæ, in ritibus item vel ceremoniis, eaque recepta pro Ecclesiarum quarumlibet ratione, opportunitate et ædificatione, nunquam tamen ea, ullis in Ecclesia temporibus, materiam dissensionibus et schismatibus, visa est suppeditare. Semper enim hac in re, Christi Ecclesiæ usæ sunt libertate. Id quod in historia Ecclesiastica videre licet. Abunde piæ vetustati satis erat, mutuus ille in præcipuis fidei dogmatibus, inque sensu orthodoxo et caritate fraterna, consensus.

Quo circa speramus Christi Ecclesias, ubi viderint deprehenderintque nos in sancti et æterni Dei doctrina, in sensu item orthodoxo et caritate fraterna, cum ipsis, imprimis vero cum veteri Apostolica Ecclesia, per omnia consentire, libenter ipsas quoque in unitate fidei atque doctrinæ, sensuque orthodoxo, et fraterna caritate consensuras nobiscum. Cum hanc Confessionem in hoc quoque ediderimus præcipue, ut Ecclesiarum pacem concordiamque cum

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